Zubrus nets four goals as Devils dump Lightning

Nov 24, 2008 - 2:00 AM
TAMPA, Florida (Ticker) -- Dainius Zubrus scored four goals as
the New Jersey Devils recorded the first five tallies of the
game en route to a 7-3 triumph over the Tampa Bay Lightning on
Sunday.

Zach Parise netted his team-leading 13th goal of the season,
Brian Gionta scored for the fourth straight game and Michael
Rupp also tallied as New Jersey cruised to its fourth
consecutive victory.

Patrik Elias notched three assists, defenseman Anssi Salmela set
up a pair of goals and Scott Clemmensen finished with 26 saves
for the Devils.

Radim Vrbata and Martin St. Louis scored 92 seconds apart and
Ryan Malone converted a penalty shot just over two minutes later
for Tampa Bay, which fell to 2-5-3 in its last 10 games.

"I'd say again tonight it was a great effort by everybody
outside of a few minutes there where we just got away from it,"
New Jersey coach Brent Sutter said. "Other than that we were
very solid right through."

Zubrus scored twice in both the second and third periods to
become the first Devils player to record four goals in a game
since October 29, 2000. John Madden and Randy McKay both
accomplished the feat in a 9-0 victory over the Pittsburgh
Penguins.

"I got chances," Zubrus said matter-of-factly. "Since I've
played now with Brian Gionta and Patrik Elias, I've had more
chances than I had before and they're going in. They made some
good plays and they're smart enough where I don't think they're
forcing things."

Entering the contest with just two goals, Zubrus scored twice in
just over a 2 1/2-minute span in the second period to give the
Devils a comfortable four-goal cushion.

Zubrus gave New Jersey a three-goal bulge after unleashing a
slap shot past Olaf Kolzig just 1:58 into the second period.
The Russian extended the advantage at 4:34 of the session after
repeatedly swiping at a loose puck in the crease before finally
slipping it past Kolzig for his fourth goal of the season.

After Gionta scored to lift New Jersey to a 5-0 lead, Vrbata and
St. Louis tallied quickly and Malone beat Clemmensen just under
the crossbar on a penalty shot to close the deficit to two goals
at 5-3.

Zubrus then sealed the game after scoring on a breakaway 7:21
into the third and capped the scoring just over seven minutes
later to seal the win.

"It was one of those where we just got a little sloppy," Zubrus
said of the Lightning getting back in the game. "We turned a
few pucks over in the neutral zone, so we got a little bit away
from our game. The coach took a timeout and we addressed the
same thing between periods and that's it. We know if we'd go
back to our game, we were going to win, and that's what we did."

"You know, you get that next one (and) it's 5-4, it's a
different game," St. Louis said. "We just got away from the way
we want to play and it cost us the game."

Kolzig allowed five goals on 28 shots before being relieved by
Karri Ramo, who was recalled from Norfolk of the American Hockey
League prior to the game. Ramo turned aside 13 shots.

"He's a pro, the guys taken bullets for the team," Tampa Bay
coach Rick Tocchet said of Kolzig. "Yeah, he had a couple of
bad goals and he'll admit it, but still there was not a lot of
grit in front of him, he's a pro. It's easy to blame Ollie."

"The first goal I think is the one I definitely have to have,"
Kolzig said. "I mean, the tip was up high enough and so we go
down 1-0 right away and then it kind of puts guys on the back of
their heels. I definitely needed to be better tonight, no
question. There's three goals I should have had tonight. I
really can't speak for anybody else."